Former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Texeira says the talk of a middleweight title fight between new champion Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev is nothing more than talk.
Alex Pereira is less than a month removed from his jaw-dropping fifth-round knockout of former titleholder Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. Shortly after his win, rumors began swirling that the Brazilian kickboxer would be making a shockingly short turnaround to defend his title at UFC 282 on December 10th. Of course, most of those rumors began thanks to a tweet by Chimaev claiming that he had accepted a fight with Pereira for the promotion’s final pay-per-view of the year.
Pereira says he asked the UFC to fight Chimaev in Brazil, but Khamzat had a different story
(via @KChimaev) pic.twitter.com/PZ2Q4QdW4W
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 28, 2022
Teixeira Confirms Alex Pereira vs. Khamzat Chimaev at Middleweight Was Never in the Cards
Appearing on ‘The MMA Hour‘ with Ariel Helwani, Alex Pereira’s teammate and cornerman Glover Teixeira decided to clear up some of the confusion, saying that much of the talk about a potential meeting between the two behemoths was nothing more than talk.
“This fight is all talk,” Teixeira said. “I usually don’t get into talk that doesn’t make any sense, but to light heavyweight, this guy says he accepted it. I remember Alex calling Jorge and saying, ‘Hey Jorge, let’s fight in Brazil.’
“I said, ‘What are you doing? You fight in Brazil? Your legs are hurt. You kicked so much, your shins are hurt. You haven’t recovered. Just chill for a while.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, but this guy’s talking, I’ll fight him at 205. I don’t want to cut the weight.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you can’t cut the weight.’ Alex is a very strong mind.”
Pereira did confirm that he had declined a fight with Chimaev at middleweight but agreed to meet the undefeated Chechen at 205 pounds in January when the UFC heads to Rio. Pereira claims that ‘Borz’ declined the compromise. Chimaev has since denied that he turned down a fight at the light heavyweight limit.
As for Glover Teixeira, he was originally scheduled to compete at UFC 282 next Saturday, running back his instant classic with Jiri Prochazka from UFC 275 in June. Unfortunately, Prochazka was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury that will require surgery. Facing a lengthy layoff, Prochazka vacated the 205-pound title which will now be on the line in the event’s new headlining bout, Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev.